(APN) ATLANTA — On February 26, 2014, the full House of Representatives passed and adopted, as amended, HB 891, which allows over 500 municipalities of different sizes, across the State of Georgia, to decide whether to reduce their early voting period from seventeen days to six. The bill passed 146 to 25. As previously reported by […]
Read moreWith additional reporting by Matthew Charles Cardinale (APN) ATLANTA — On February 25, 2014, the Georgia House of Representatives passed HB 965 and HB 966, two bills intended to reduce the number of deaths in Georgia related to heroin overdoses and overdoses from other drugs. HB 965 would provide amnesty to people who call 911 to […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — The Georgia General Assembly wrapped up its Crossover Day on Thursday, March 07, 2013, which was the thirtieth day of the forty-day legislative session. This is the last day that legislation has to pass in either the State House or State Senate in order for the legislation to be taken up this year in the other respective […]
Read moreThis article first appeared on the Inter-Press Service website at: http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/02/alec-backed-laws-promote-controversial-charter-schools/ ATLANTA, Georgia, Feb 27 2013 (IPS) – The right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and private education management firms are pushing for new “parent trigger” laws in states across the U.S. by lobbying many Republican and some Democratic legislators to make it easier to convert more traditional public […]
Read moreWith additional reporting by Gloria Tatum, Kevin Moran, and Matthew Charles Cardinale. (APN) ATLANTA — State Rep. Pat Gardner (D-Atlanta) says she is hopeful that Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, will change his mind over whether to expand Medicaid in Georgia pursuant to the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Currently the U.S. states are split completely in half on the […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — There are three bills concerning Fulton County currently pending in the Georgia Legislature that would drastically reshape the County’s governance structure, tax base, and employee benefits to meet the wishes of North Fulton Republicans, while a fourth bill threatens to break off North Fulton and re-form Milton County. House Bills 170, 171, and 172 deal with reforming […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Thursday, March 29, 2012, the last day of the General Assembly, began for Occupy Atlanta, unions, religious leaders, leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, community activists, and the Tea Party at 9:30am with a prayer vigil outside the Capitol steps. Activists continued with a rally to speak out against some of the most oppressive bills. SB […]
Read moreWith additional reporting by Gloria Tatum. (APN) ATLANTA — Yesterday, March 07, 2012, was Crossover Day for the Georgia General Assembly, the final day for legislation pass either the House or the Senate to be able to pass both chambers this year. A number of regressive and oppressive measures related to abortion, charter schools, civil disobedience, and drug testing of […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — At a legislative hearing on Wednesday, February 15, 2012, at the Georgia Capitol, State Rep. Jason Spencer (R- Woodbine), one of the co-sponsors of HB 668–which would require people who receive temporary assistance for needy families (TANF) to submit to a drug test–sought to advance his bill. Instead, he met fierce opposition from advocates and experts who […]
Read moreWith additional reporting on the Special Council’s recommendations by Matthew Cardinale. (APN) ATLANTA — This year, the Georgia Legislature is expected to begin considering a package of reforms intended to reduce the state’s prison population as well as the enormous costs to taxpayers that Georgia’s mass incarceration policies have caused year after year. The Report of the Special Council on […]
Read moreThis article first appeared on the Inter-Press Service website at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106224 ATLANTA, Georgia, Dec 14, 2011 (IPS) – When Vandy Beth Glenn, a transgender woman formerly known as Mr. Glenn Morrison, told her supervisors at the Georgia state legislature where she served as a legislative editor that she would start coming to work dressed as a woman, she was fired. […]
Read moreA shorter version of this article appeared first on Inter-Press Service’s website at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106044. ATLANTA, Georgia, U.S., Nov 30, 2011 (IPS) – At least 36 states across the U.S. are proposing laws that would require applicants for and recipients of a variety of public aid programs to undergo drug testing in which they would have to provide a urine sample. […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Governor Nathan Deal is poised to sign the controversial racial profiling immigration bill, HB 87, into law. He has until May 24, 2011, to sign or veto the bill before it automatically becomes law, that is, forty days since it was passed by the legislature. Deal is in a bit of a bind because Georgia Republicans are […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Earlier today, on the last day of the 2011 legislative session, Thursday, April 14, 2011, the State Senate approved, on a vote of 34-12, a version of SB 79 which was substituted by the House on Monday, April 11. The legislation, which is expected to be signed by Governor Nathan Deal, would give the governor the authority […]
Read moreThis article first appeared on The Beacon website at: http://www.beaconcastmedia.com/politics/Senate-Democrats-Vow-To-Take-To-The-Streets-In-Battle-over-HOPE-Reforms–2851 (APN) ATLANTA — Gov. Nathan Deal (R) signed HB 326, a major reform package to the HOPE Scholarship on Tuesday, but some Senate Democrats vowed in a recent press conference to keep fighting the reforms. “With today’s signing, we have closed a $300 million shortfall in the next year, we have […]
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